Five Days This Christmas. Your Teen Walks Into the Mocks With a Method.
The five Year 11 Combined Science topics across Biology, Chemistry and Physics where capable students lose the most marks, taught and practised in five live sessions with a specialist course tutor. Ready for the January mocks.
Only 9.4% reached 7-7 or above. Science grades decide A-level choices, from Biology and Chemistry to Medicine.
Why revision is not always enough, and how to fix it.
Watching your teen revise and still lose marks is one of the most frustrating things as a parent. The good news: it is almost always fixable.
Combined Science is six papers across three sciences, and the marks are lost in the same places every year: a word that is nearly right, a graph read the wrong way, a six-mark answer that lists facts instead of explaining them.
January mocks are when this shows. The autumn topics are the newest, and some of them are the hardest on the whole course.
Five days over Christmas changes that. Not by covering more content, but by finding exactly where the marks are going and fixing it before the mocks.
One topic a day. Done properly. Done once.
These are five topics from this term where Year 11 students lose the most marks, two from Biology, two from Chemistry and one from Physics, chosen from AQA's own examiner reports. By the last day, your teen knows how to write answers that earn marks, not just answers that contain facts.
How the body controls blood glucose, and Type 1 versus Type 2 diabetes. Only 40% of Higher students scored on the glucagon question and just 6% gained 3 or 4 marks; many described glucagon as a carbohydrate.
How sex cells form, chromosome numbers, and Punnett squares written to full marks. Only 25% of Higher students gained any marks on meiosis; a frequent misconception was that 'sperm contain half a chromosome', and just over 25% gave the correct chromosome number of 44.
How temperature, pressure and catalysts affect an equilibrium. Under 40% of Higher students chose the correct effect of temperature, and under a third gained the catalyst mark; many believed a catalyst speeds up only the forward reaction.
Fractional distillation, alkanes and alkenes, the bromine water test and polymers. Under 20% of Higher students identified a polymer structure, and under half gained both marks for the alkene test.
Distance-time and velocity-time graphs, gradients and resultant force. Fewer than half of Higher students recalled that the gradient of a distance-time graph gives speed, and just over 10% scored on explaining deceleration from a graph.
Four stages. Every session. Every day.
Every session follows the same four-stage structure. Your teen does not just cover content, they learn how to perform it under exam conditions.
Before any teaching begins, your course tutor identifies where your teen is actually losing marks, whether that is recall gaps, application errors, method choice or exam technique. Different problems need different fixes, and we find the right ones first.
We build the understanding the mark scheme rewards: knowing why a concept works, not just what it is. Your teen learns to apply their knowledge to questions they have never seen before, and to write answers that earn the marks.
We practise performing, not just knowing. Every day includes unfamiliar, exam-style questions under timed conditions. Knowing a topic and applying it under pressure are different skills, and both can be trained.
By the last day, your teen has a repeatable approach to any exam question, and the confidence that comes from preparation. Not hope. A method they have proved works across five days of applied practice.
Meet Your Course Tutor
Phebe teaches GCSE Maths and Science and A-Level Biology and Chemistry at EmPowered STEM. She studied Biomedicine and Chemistry at King's College London and went on to complete a graduate-entry Medicine degree, so she knows what the step from GCSE to A-level, and on to competitive university offers, really takes. Her students describe her as approachable, patient and structured, and her sessions are built on active recall, spaced practice and exam-style questions.
- Joint honours degree in Biomedicine and Chemistry, King's College London
- Graduate-entry Medicine degree
- A* and A grades in A-Level Biology, Chemistry and Maths
- Supports students applying for medicine with UCAT, interviews and personal statements
Not more practice papers. A method.
Most families arrive after trying something else. Here is why this works when other approaches have not.
Taught With the Next Step in Mind
Phebe also teaches A-level, so she teaches GCSE the way the next stage needs it: understanding and method, not memorised steps that fall apart on an unfamiliar question.
The Four-Stage STEMPath Method
Not improvised week by week. The same structured approach in every session, and the same method we use across all our courses.
Exam Technique Built In
We teach the answers the mark scheme rewards. Understanding the content is not the same as writing answers that earn marks.
Most help reacts. We follow a method.
| What your teen actually needs | EmPowered STEM | Typical revision help |
|---|---|---|
| Diagnosis of where marks are actually being lost | Stage 1, before any teaching begins | Goes straight to more questions |
| Exam technique built into every explanation | Shown and practised daily | Focus on completing the topic |
| Unfamiliar, applied questions every day | Every day, on that day's topic | Practice grouped by topic |
| A specialist course tutor | Phebe, GCSE Combined Science course tutor | Often covers several subjects and levels |
| Built on the real exam papers | AQA examiner reports, with Edexcel and OCR points flagged | Generic worksheets |
| A measurable outcome | By Day 5, applying concepts to unseen questions | Hard to know what changed |
The difference is not effort, almost every student we work with is already working hard. The difference is structure.
Here is exactly what five days looks like.
- Five live two-hour sessions with Phebe, 6pm to 8pm UK time, Sunday 27 to Thursday 31 December
- Five Year 11 Combined Science topics: Biology: blood glucose, insulin and glucagon; Biology: meiosis, chromosomes and genetic crosses; Chemistry: reversible reactions and equilibrium; Chemistry: crude oil, alkenes and polymers; Physics: motion graphs and Newton's laws
- Exam technique and mark-scheme wording in every session
- Built on AQA examiner reports, with Edexcel and OCR differences flagged
- The STEMPath Method, all four stages across all five days
- Recordings and resources in the challenge area, so a missed day over Christmas can be caught up
5-Day Year 11 GCSE Combined Science Christmas Challenge
Sunday 27 to Thursday 31 December 2026 £197 · 10 hours of live teaching The first 30 minutes of day one are free. If it is not right for your teen, leave before that session ends for a full refund. Book Your Teen's Place →Questions & Answers
Yes, when the five days are spent on the right topics, in the right order, with the right method.
Yes. Every topic here is also in the separate sciences, and Phebe adds the extra detail triple students need. Tell us when you book.
The topics come from AQA's examiner reports for Combined Science Trilogy, and the content is shared with Edexcel and OCR. Phebe flags anything that differs for your teen's board.
No. Every session is recorded, and the recording and resources go into the challenge area the same day, so your teen can catch up on a missed day.
By the end of the challenge you will have a clear, honest picture of where your teen stands. We will tell you what the right next step looks like. No pressure, no push.
January mocks. Your teen turns to the six-mark question and knows what to write.
While other students write down everything they remember and hope some of it scores, your teen recognises what the question is really asking and writes the steps the mark scheme credits, in the right order and the right words.
That is not a small thing. Confidence in Science compounds: a teen who feels in control takes on the long-answer questions. A teen who feels lost leaves them half done, and those are the marks that decide the grade.
Five days this Christmas is what that difference costs.
Book Your Teen's Place →The mocks begin regardless. The question is whether your teen starts them with the method, or spends the spring term catching up.
Five focused days. The rest of the year, different.
Book Your Teen's Place →